Panthers LB Thompson has Season-Ending Injury

If Carolina Panthers Shaq Thompson did not have bad luck, he would not have any luck at all.

After rehabbing and working his way back from a September 2023 injury to be on the field with his guys in Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints, Thompson will have to endure another long and painful, both mental and physical road to recovery. The Panthers have again lost the veteran linebacker to a season-ending injury.

Thompson suffered one of the worse injuries in all of sports, an Achilles tear in Week 4, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports. The only Carolina starter left from Super Bowl 50 in 2015 season, Thompson is in the final year of his deal. There is no question that this news is a major setback and is obviously a tough blow to Thompson’s value, as he is now that vaunted age of 30 and will leave this season coming off a pair of devasting injuries.

Anchoring Carolina’s defensive secondary since Luke Kuechly‘s early retirement in 2020 due to neck and head injuries, Thompson came back from a fractured fibula suffered in Week 2 of last season. That injury regulated him to the sidelines where he could only watch, during another erratic and unstable Panthers season. Despite the team making a change at general managers and once again switching head coaches with the dismissal of Frank Reich, Thompson remained a constant in their plans. He came back into the fold and started four games this season, making 35 tackles, but now you cannot help asking the question if this is the end for the 2015 first-round pick with Carolina.

The Panthers, who played the lion’s share of last season without Thompson’s services and Jaycee Horn, have lost Derrick Brown for the year as well. The latest Thompson setback shreds Ejiro Evero‘s defense, which already came into the season with one hand behind its back at edge rusher. Resolving the Brian Burns matter by selling low with a trade to the New York Giants, the Panthers have D.J. Wonnum on their reserve/PUP list. Jadeveon Clowney has not lived up to expectations, registering only one sack in four games, with no Panther entering Week 5 with more than 1.5.

Getting home to the quarterback is not Thompson’s specialty, but the off-ball backer has provided consistency and leadership during much of his Carolina tenure. Initially a wingman alongside stalwarts Kuechly and Thomas Davis on that Carolina Super Bowl team as a rookie, the Dave Gettleman-era draftee earned his bag before Kuechly’s retirement. Thompson played on that contract until agreeing on a pay cut in 2023. The Panthers restructured that contract this offseason, creating $3M in cap space. If Thompson is not re-signed by the start of the 2025 league year, the organization will have to eat $3.18M in dead money.

With a 1-15 2001 season notwithstanding, this has been the worst stretch in team history. Thompson has been unavailable much of this 3-18 run but has been onboard throughout David Tepper‘s ownership tenure. Thompson had been alongside Frankie Luvu in recent years, but he walked out the door to the nation’s capital, Washington in free agency. The Panthers added ex-Evero Broncos charge Josey Jewell as a starter in March, and they will need to find another regular. The team used a third-round pick on Trevin Wallace this year and used its No. 1 waiver priority to claim Jon Rhattigan late last month. Claudin Cherelus, a former waiver claim, rounds out Carolina’s inside linebacker group.

Thompson’s 752 career tackles rank fourth in Panther’s history, behind Davis, Kuechly and safety Mike Minter, and his 112 starts sit seventh in franchise history among defenders. Barring a low-cost contract to return,
Thompson will remain in that spot for the foreseeable future. Whether it is with Carolina or another franchise, Thompson will aim to play again because no one wants to go out due to injury. He said Monday on social media that retirement is not on the table.